Statoil drilling 10,000-m well to North Sea satellite

Statoil ASA is drilling what could become one of the longest penetrations on record to develop a Gullfaks field satellite in the North Sea off Norway.

Aug. 16, 2005

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 16 -- Statoil ASA is drilling what could become one of the longest penetrations on record to develop a Gullfaks field satellite in the North Sea off Norway.

The company seeks to recover 25 million bbl of oil and 17.6 bcf of gas from Gulltopp, formerly Dolly, via a subsea template and dedicated multiphase flowline (OGJ Online, Jan. 21, 2004).

Spudded in late April 2005, the well is being sidetracked from a wellbore on the Gullfaks A platform and deviated to 83° from vertical to the point where it penetrates the Brent reservoir at TVD 2,500 m subsea and then 90° through the formation. Total wellbore length is to be 10,000 m.

Success could help make other small Norwegian oil and gas prospects commercial, including several near Gullfaks, Statoil said.